A Study on the Development Model of Village Health Volunteers (VHV) that Increases Efficiency in Health Care Operations at the Local Level in Pathum Thani Province

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to study the development model of village health volunteers (VHV) that increases efficiency in health care operations at the local level in Pathum Thani province. The research was divided into three phases. The first phase was qualitative research and involved a study of the modern-day challenges facing village health volunteers, strengths and weaknesses, work-related enabling factors and obstacles, and guidelines for promoting and developing village health volunteers that help increase efficiency in health care operations at the local level. The second phase was quantitative research, in which the development model of village health volunteers that increases efficiency in health care operations at the local level was created. The third phase aimed to test the development model in the urban context of Lam Pak Kood subdistrict in Thanyaburi district and the rural area of Bueng Ka Sam subdistrict in Nong Suea district.    

The results revealed that after the development model was deployed, village health volunteers have been involved in subdistrict health development planning for two projects, including dengue fever prevention project and diabetes and hypertension screening project. Subdistrict health-promoting hospitals of the two abovementioned subdistricts have allocated tasks to perfectly match the number of village health volunteers and provided them with necessary equipment to perform their tasks on the two projects.   The results of campaigns promoting diabetes and hypertension screening and dengue fever prevention in the two subdistricts were quite high. The diabetes screening reached 95.2% of the target population in Bueng Ka Sam subdistrict, while the hypertension screening reached 96.7% of the target population and there was no one with dengue fever in the subdistrict. For Lam Pak Kood subdistrict, the diabetes screening reached 82.4% of the target population, while the hypertension screening reached 79.9% of the target population and there was no one with dengue fever. In addition, 82.5% of community stakeholders involved in the development of health care operations at the local level showed a high level of satisfaction.   

Recommendation: The research aimed to study the development model and collect data from the operating results through interviews and community stakeholder meetings, but the data may not cover all areas needed to be developed. Therefore, it is recommended that the next research should include an in-depth study into roles and responsibilities of village health volunteers who have been involved in the development model in order to find out the impact on their personal health care and household health care in the community, which will be used to help with future development plans to enhance the potential of village health volunteers.